Method and Apparatus for Controlling Double-Ended Soft Permanent Virtual Circuit/Path Connections

Abstract

A method and apparatus control a double-ended soft permanent virtual circuit (SPVC) connection coupling from a source end to a destination end via a communications network. The method includes (a) receiving an SPVC connection message from a first network device for the source end, (b) accepting an SPVC connection in accordance with the SPVC connection message if a second network device receiving the SPVC connection has an association with the first network device, and (c) rejecting the SPVC connection if the second network device does not have an association with the first network device. The network device for the destination end includes a database memory adapted to store an access identifier of at least one predetermined source network device from which the network device is allowed to accept an SPVC connection.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to computer internetworking and telecommunications. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling double-ended Soft Permanent Virtual Circuit connections and double-ended Soft Permanent Virtual Path connections.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONAsynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) connection services and Frame Relay (FR) connections are typically implemented using Permanent Virtual Circuit (PVC) connections and Switched Virtual Circuit (SVC) connections. For example, an PVC connection via an ATM network, the virtual channel identifier (VCI) and virtual path identifier (VPI) values are manually configured at each switching point in the connection, typically at each interface of network devices such as switches, routers, and switch-routers. In an ATM cell header, for example, the VCI and VPI are a 16-bit field and a 8-bit field, respectively. In PVCs, the VCI and the VPI are used to identify the next...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a method and apparatus for controlling a connection between two devices in a network using a double-ended soft permanent virtual circuit (SPVC). The method involves receiving a message for the connection, accepting the connection if there is an existing relationship between the two devices, and rejecting the connection if there is no existing relationship. The destination device has a database memory that stores the access identifier of the source device that can be connected to it. The technical effect of this patent is to provide a more efficient and secure way to connect devices in a network.

Problems solved by technology

The manual configuration of VPI / VCI or DLCI values, though tedious, is required only once, because the PVC connection remains up permanently once the connection is set up.

However, there is no guarantee that a single-ended SPVC can get the bandwidth or connection identifiers at the passive endpoint (destination network device) as requested from the source endpoint.

Furthermore, during an attempt to modify the traffic parameters of an exiting SPVC connection, the same problem may happen in single-ended SPVCs.

Thus, two (or more) SPVCs with the same destination address and the same VPI / VCI values could be configured from different source network devices, and this is especially problematic in a multi-vendor environment.

However, matching the service category, PCR / SCR, and other parameters is not a perfect solution, since even in the double-ended SPVCs, there are cases where an SPVC connection from one endpoint is inadvertently mis-configured to reach a wrong destination, and the service category, PCR / SCR, and other parameters of the mis-configured connection can match, especially, when these parameters have default values.

Such mis-routing traffic due to configuration errors may have significant consequences.

Furthermore, in connection-oriented networks using ATM communications, bandwidth and specific connection identifiers may be reserved for premium subscribers, and such configuration errors and mis-routing may result in depriving the subscribers of their premium services by unauthorized use.

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